Scriptorium St. Francis Press

Scriptorium St. Francis Press ~ California (Thomas Ingmire)

Thomas Ingmire is an American calligrapher, born in 1942 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. In 1977 he became the first American elected to England's Society of Scribes and Illuminators with a craft membership status. He is one of the illuminators of the St. John's Bible.

Artist's monthly practice journals Bookworks with text by Lorca

The Body, The Spirit A Visual / Verbal Book by Thomas Ingmire Text Selections from "Blanco" by Octavio Paz Translation by Charles Tomlinson & G. Areul San Francisco, California: Scriptorium St. Francis Press, 2011. One-of-a-Kind. 7.75 x 11"; 20 pages. Pen and ink. Cover collaged and painted. Laid in handmade paper box with lid. Signed by Ingmire. Thomas Ingmire: "This book is from the poem 'Blanco' by Octavio Paz. This is a very long poem. I have only chosen and integrated some passages and words from the poem. I am attracted to the idea of visually capturing the spiritual and mystical aspects of the poem. The movement and spatial relationships between the rhythmic marks and legible words is meant to capture a contemplative mood." Nobel laureate Paz was once Mexico's ambassador to India, and Eastern themes often appear in his writing. "Blanco" is Paz's vision of Yoga. $2,800	Click image for more


The Night By Georg Trakl Translation by Robert Firmage San Francisco, California: Scriptorium St. Francis Press, 2010. One-of-a-Kind. 9.5 x 7.5"; 24 pages. Collage elements in text pages. Calligraphy, illumination, and drawings by Thomas Ingmire. Painted cover. Hand sewn binding. Laid in a letter-fold envelope illustrated with collage elements. A visual/verbal book. I sing you, wild chasm, Mountains towered up In nightstorm; You gray towers Brimming with hellish grimaces, ..... Georg Trakl (1887 - 1914) was a World War I medical officer and poet whose work attracted the patronage of Wittgenstein. www.georg-trakl.com: "Georg Trakl is considered one of the most extraordinary poets and most important exponents of Austrian Expressionism." $3,900	Click image for more



In 2009 Ingmire began saving his daily calligraphy practice pages. He began to bind them by month into individual books.
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A Daily Book October 2010 By Thomas Ingmire San Francisco: Scriptorium St. Francis Press, 2010. One-of-a-Kind. 6.75 x 7.5; 36 pages. Pen and ink. Cover collaged and painted. Handsewn binding. The artist's daily practice book for the month of October 2010. Each day occupies one page. Thomas Ingmire: "The poetry and texts in this book are by Gertrude Stein. The intent of the book initially was to explore cursive handwriting variations." $1,200	Click image for more


A Daily Book November 2010 By Thomas Ingmire San Francisco: Scriptorium St. Francis Press, 2010. One-of-a-Kind. 7 x 7.25"; 36 pages. Watercolor. Pen and ink. Cover collaged and painted. Handsewn binding. The artist's daily practice book for the month of November 2010. Each day occupies one page. Splashes of color amid black ink and calligraphic musings on war, peace, and humanity. One page of white on white experimentation. Thomas Ingmire: "This book includes many short poems and phrases by William Stafford from the book titled Every War has Two Losers." $1,200	Click image for more


01 - 2010 A Book of Days - January, 2010 By Thomas Ingmire San Francisco, California: Scriptorium St. Francis Press, 2010. One-of-a-Kind. 7 x 7.75"; 38 pages. Collaged and painted cover. Handsewn binding. Paper wrapper with back page of journal slipping into back interior of wrapper. The artist's daily practice book for the month of January 2010. Each day occupies one page. The first page of the first month of 2010 starts with Japanese calligraphy and the notation "The year of the tiger." $1,200	Click image for more


03 - 2010 A Book of Days - March 2010 By Thomas Ingmire San Francisco, California: Scriptorium St. Francis Press, 2010. One-of-a-Kind. 7 x 7.75"; 44 pages. Collaged and painted cover. Handsewn binding. Paper wrapper with back page of journal slipping into back interior of wrapper. The artist's daily practice book for the month of March 2010. Each day occupies one page. Calligraphic meanderings including a Dog Day (the 29th): "I am I because my little dog knows me even if the little is a big one…" $1,200	Click image for more


10-09 A Book of Days - October 2009 By Thomas Ingmire San Francisco, California: Scriptorium St. Francis Press, 2009. One-of-a-Kind. 7 x 7.75"; 40 pages. Painted cover page. Hand sewn binding. Paper wrapper with back page of journal slipping into back interior of wrap. The artist's daily practice book for the month of October 2009. Each day occupies one page. Calligraphy on each page. References indicate that during this month Ingmire traveled to Berlin. $1,200	Click image for more
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12-09 A Book of Days - December 2009 By Thomas Ingmire San Francisco, California: Scriptorium St. Francis Press, 2009. One-of-a-Kind. 7 x 7.75"; 40 pages. Collaged and painted cover. Hand sewn binding. Paper wrapper with back page of journal slipping into back interior of wrap. The artist's daily practice book for the month of December 2009. Each day occupies one page. Calligraphy on each page. Two extra pages of notes at the end of the journal describe a project that involved creating a poem. $1,200	Click image for more


Unique calligraphy books using the words of Spanish poet Frederico Garcia Lorca (1898 - 1936)
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Suites: Song Poetry by Federico Garcia Lorca Drawings and Calligraphy by Thomas Ingmire San Francisco, California: Scriptorium St. Francis Press, 2010. One-of-a-Kind. 7.75 x 10"; 28 pages. Handsewn binding. Laid in wrapper of handpainted papers with slip on title band. Translation by Jerome Rothenberg. Colophon: "Inspiration from this book springs from an artists' book collaboration featuring original drawings by Manuel Neri and my calligraphic interpretations of poetry by Federico Garcia Lorca. This Lorca / Neri project, spanning the years 2007-2010 gave me a unique appreciation of the visual and emotional links between the creations of these two artists." Thomas Ingmire: "This is another book that has been inspired by my work with Manuel Neri and the poetry of Lorca. Most of the work that I had done with the commission had involved, for the lack of better words, Lorca's more despairing poetry. I wanted to do something fairly straight forward with a few of his lighter, playful poems. I chose three poems and balanced them against the simple pastel figure drawings. With the drawings I wanted to capture the directness and simplicity of form that I always see in Manuel Neri's drawings." $3,700	Click image for more


Some Souls February 8, 1920 a poem by Federico García Lorca translation by Catherine Brown San Francisco, California: Scriptorium St. Francis Press, 2010. One-of-a-Kind. 7.625 x 9 x 1"; 30 pages. Calligraphy, illumination, and drawings by Thomas Ingmire. Collaged and painted cover. Hand sewn binding. Housed in a box with a clear Plexiglas cover. A visual/verbal book. Some souls have blue stars morning pressed between leaves of time and chaste corners with an ancient murmur of nostalgia and dreams. ... $4,300	Click image for more


Songs of Sadness a visual/verbal book by Thomas Ingmire with poetry of Federico García Lorca San Francisco, California: Scriptorium St. Francis Press, 2010. One-of-a-Kind. 7.5 x 10.25 x 1"; 26 pages. Collage elements in text. Calligraphy, illumination, and drawings by Thomas Ingmire. Collaged and painted cover. Handsewn binding. Housed in a box with a clear Plexiglas cover. Includes "The Ancient Sorrow of Poetry" translated by Catherine Brown and "The Passage of Siguiriya" translated by Cola Franzen. Oh, what sorrow to have poems off in the distance of passion, and a brain all stained with ink! Oh what sorrow not to have the happy man's fantastical shirt – a tanned skin, the sun's carpet ... $4,500	Click image for more


Scriptorium St. Francis Press Out of Print Titles:	Top

Casida of the Rose By Dante and Federico García Lorca San Francisco: Arion Press, 2010. One-of-a-Kind. 5.25 x 9"; 40 pages. Handmade paper. Handsewn binding with vellum from Israel. Laid in letterfold wrapper of black papers with slip on paper title band. Calligraphy, design and binding by Thomas Ingmire. Letterpress printing by Jerry Reddan at Arion Press. Handmade paper by Tim Barrett at University of Iowa. Thomas Ingmire: "Combines the poetry of Lorca ('Casida of the Rose' translated by Robert Bly) and The Canto V of Dante's Inferno [translation by Robert Mandelbaum]. The word 'TRUTH' is the repetitive element that runs throughout the book. I saw the connection of these elements as having to do with desire. In Dante...the desires of lust as expressed by Francesca and Paolo...the searching in Lorca...and TRUTH as the ultimate desire. Perhaps this is a stretch, but it was one that entertains me. "Many elements in the book, the vellum cover, the black painted pages with typography, the hand made paper, were created years ago. I had been saving them for the right project. The TRUTH images as well were created a few years back. Somehow when I recently read the Lorca poem, 'Casida of the Rose,' I made an immediate connection, both visually and verbally with these past works." (SOLD)	Click image for more

Crossroad text by Federico Garcia Lorca translation by Catherine Brown San Francisco, California: Scriptorium St. Francis Press, 2011. One-of-a-Kind. 17.5 x 25 cm; 14 pages. Original calligraphy, illumination, and drawing. Collage. Pamphlet stitched binding. Paper wraps with blue front cover and red back cover. Signed by Ingmire. Ingmire here creates a visual-verbal vision of Federico Garcia Lorca's Crossroad, originally published in 1920. Oh, what sorrow to have Poems off in the distance of passion, and a brain all stained with ink. (SOLD)	Click image for more

In Silence By Thomas Merton a visual/verbal book by Thomas Ingmire San Francisco, California: Scriptorium St. Francis Press, 2010. One-of-a-Kind. 7.5 x 6.75 x 1"; 34 pages. Collaged and painted cover. Hand sewn binding. Calligraphy, illumination, and drawings by Thomas Ingmire. Housed in a box with a clear Plexiglas cover. Ingmire's calligraphy with Thomas Merton (1915-1968) poetry. Be still. Listen to the stones of the wall. Be silent, they try to speak your name. Listen to the living walls. Who are you? Who are you? Whose silence are you? ... (SOLD)	Click image for more

it is not a visual/verbal book by Thomas Ingmire a poem by Quincy Troupe San Francisco, California: Scriptorium St. Francis Press, 2011. One-of-a-Kind. 13.75 x 14"; 24 pages. Pen and ink. Collage, calligraphy, and paint. Handsewn binding with painted and collaged covers. Laid in custom made blue and cream wrapper with stiff paper back. The poem was originally published in 1978 by Reed Book (New York City) in the collection of poems titled Black Spots. Poet, editor, journalist, teacher, and more, Quincy Troupe was born July 22, 1939, in St Louis, Missouri. Troupe was one of the eminent writers to emerge from the Watts Writers Workshop. He worked with Miles Davis to produce Miles, the Autobiography, an American Book Award winner in 1989. His books of poetry include The Architecture of Language (2006); Transcircularities: New and Selected Poems (2002); Choruses: Poems (1999); Avalanche: Poems (1996); Weather Reports: New and Selected Poems (1991); Skulls along the River (1984); Snake-Back Solos: Selected Poems 1969-1977 (1979), which received an American Book Award; Embryo Poems, 1967-1971 (1974). He was the first official poet laureate of the state of California. (SOLD)	Click image for more

02 - 2010 A Book of Days - February, 2010 By Thomas Ingmire San Francisco, California: Scriptorium St. Francis Press, 2010. One-of-a-Kind. 7 x 7.75"; 46 pages. Collaged and painted cover. Handsewn binding. Paper wrapper with back page of journal slipping into back interior of wrapper. The artist's daily practice book for the month of February 2010. Each day occupies one page. This month's calligraphic wanderings seem to be about color.
Notes from 26-2-2010: "1. color and value absolute color method medieval Click image for more dark colors = blue - red light = yellow 2. saturation modeling dark yellows, light blues late 15 c 3. compositional congruency light areas warmer ..." (SOLD)

04 - 2010 A Book of Days - April 2010 By Thomas Ingmire San Francisco, California: Scriptorium St. Francis Press, 2010. One-of-a-Kind. 7 x 7.75"; 44 pages. Collaged and painted cover. Handsewn binding. Paper wrapper with back page of journal slipping into back interior of wrapper. The artist's daily practice book for the month of April 2010. Each day occupies one page. In this month's flourishes several pages are filled with practice of decorative letters: letters with diamond shapes and white lines and swirls embedded in the stems. Also a many musings on music – on sound and silence. Ingmire's notes on the last page: "music sometimes consists of single sounds or groups of sounds which are not supported by harmonies – but resound with a space of silence (like stars in our sky?) "sounds and movements are not symbols – we are not saying anything – words are symbols ... ie. have meaning ..." (SOLD)	Click image for more

A Daily Book May 2010 By Thomas Ingmire San Francisco: Scriptorium St. Francis Press, 2010. One-of-a-Kind. 6.75 x 7.5; 36 pages. Pen and ink. Watercolor. Cover collaged and painted. Handsewn binding. The artist's daily practice book for the month of May 2010. Each day occupies one page. Practice calligraphy with quotes from Lorca, Gertrude Stein, and David Ignatow. My favorite, says Vicky, is a colorful page with these words calligraphed in red: "I am I because my little dog knows me." (SOLD)	Click image for more

Textra One, Word Visions By Thomas Ingmire San Francisco, California: Scriptorium St. Francis Press, 2011. One-of-a-Kind. 17.5 x 25 cm; 14 pages. Original calligraphy, illumination, and drawing. Collage. Handsewn pamphlet style binding with handpainted covers. Thomas Ingmire builds on the traditions of calligraphy to produce bookworks of visual imagery. Textra One, Word Visions combines fragments of found French manuscript pages with his calligraphy and art. Thomas Ingmire: "Regarding Textra...the tipped pieces are from a few sheets of an old manuscript. There is a shop near Howard's [San Francisco book artist, Howard Munson] studio (you may or may not have noticed it) called Ariel. The guy who owns it goes to France often and brings back pages of writing, usually French and from the 1800's. Most of the time there is no reference to dates, etc." (SOLD)	Click image for more
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Page last update: 01.18.12